Live Bait, Part 7
As was the natural order, the spring moved on through its course into summer. Tristan and Devin spent the short nights entwined in each other’s arms. During the day, Tristan plied his skill on a small boat with the selkies fishing for herring as the shoals arrived back in their spawning waters. Working together in the boat and the water, they returned each evening with stuffed nets.
It was one such day when a ship, inching closer, caught Tristan’s attention. His stomach flipped, entirely unrelated to the waves.
“We’ll pull in early today.” Devin popped up from the waters. “The village has a feast planned for the solstice.”
Tristan pulled his gaze away from the nearing boat. “Y-yeah, that sounds good.” he nodded.
“What’s wrong?” Devin frowned.
“I think that’s the ship I was on.” Tristan sighed. “They’re following the herring.”
“I’ll warn the others.” Devin said. “We’ll stay hidden.” He reached up for Tristan’s hand. “Don’t worry.”
Tristan smiled a little. “Just be careful.” he squeezed Devin’s hand.
It felt like an eternity for the ship to pull up closer and drop a dinghy into the water.
“Tristan?” a harsh, grating voice called. Three men sat in the dinghy, holding vicious harpoons. “What a surprise to see you!”
“Isn’t it, Fergus?” Tristan eyed the harpoons suspiciously. The crew didn’t usually carry those, it wasn’t a whaling ship. “Considering you dumped me for dead.”
“Ah, come on, we were on our way back to you.” Fergus shrugged. “Besides, you’re not dead so I don’t know why you’re grousing.”
“Right.” Tristan rolled his eyes. “What do you want?”
“Just a chat. What took you away?” Fergus asked, putting one foot up on the edge of the dinghy. Their boats knocked together a little and Fergus wobbled.
“I swam off.”
“Sure.” Fergus nodded. “And I hatched from a hen.”
“I’d believe that.” Tristan replied. “You smell like chicken shit.”
One of the other sailors laughed but stopped short with a harsh glare from Fergus.
“You sure it wasn’t what we were hunting?” Fergus hummed.
“You're too old to believe in such stories.” Tristan said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do. There’s plenty of fish for us both.”
“Where are you living now, Tristan?”
“Wouldn’t you like to-”
“Captain! I saw it!” a sailor jumped up and aimed his harpoon into the water.
“That’s a seal, you dipshit!” his companion replied but he jumped up too. The dinghy rocked enough that Fergus lost his balance and fell into the water.
Tristan threw his head back in laughter. “You’ve always been graceful, Fergus!”
Under the surface, Devin came face to face with Fergus. Devin shot away, deeper into the water.
“It’s here!” Fergus cried as he scrambled back into the dinghy. “It’s here!”
Tristan’s laughter died. “You’re mad, you’re just seeing things!” He couldn’t hide the shake in his voice.
“You ass, you knew it was here!” Fergus turned his beet red face to Tristan. “Where is it!? Where are you hiding it!”
“The sea, you dumb-”
“There!” a sailor threw the harpoon into the water. Thankfully, the man wasn’t a good shot and missed the selkie by a wide margin. These sailors weren’t used to harpoons, they’d spent most of their careers with nets and rods.
“Stop!” Tristan cried. “Don’t hurt them!”
But the sailors were too distracted with scanning the grey water.
“Where did it go!?” Fergus screamed.
“I don’t see it! I-” The response was cut off as their dinghy suddenly bucked and rocked. Underneath, the selkies grouped together to push the dinghy up.
“It’s under us!” Fergus roared. “Find it! Tom, get it!”
Tom threw his harpoon as the dinghy bounced and it found a mark. Not the mark it was really aiming for, but it lodged firmly in one side of Devin’s fluke.
“Devin!” Tristan jumped to his feet. “Fergus, stop this!”
“Not until I get my- Stop that!” Fergus yelped at a particularly hard shove from the selkies. “Stop it!”
With gritted teeth, Devin yanked the harpoon from his tail. It wasn’t life-threatening but this needed to end soon. He eyed the figure at the edge of the dinghy but it was close enough for Fergus to catch a glimpse of him, too.
Fergus pulled his arm back to throw his harpoon and Tristan leapt across the space between their boats.
“Fergus, don’t!”
Fergus threw and the harpoon speared through a ribcage.
“Tristan?!” Fergus stared at the surprised face in front of him. The barbed head of the harpoon appeared through Tristan’s back and dark blood drenched his shirt. Tristan fell back into the water, his amber eyes staring at the sky.
Devin shot from the water and quickly speared Fergus through with the harpoon used on himself.
“You should have stayed away.” He growled.











